Insidious Chapter 2

What really makes the score for Insidious Chapter 2 scary is that you can never quite get a hold of it. The string work is always moving about in tracks like “Ghost Photographs” and “The Flickering Entity”, which keeps you on guard because you anticipate danger around every audio corner.

Sadness pervades “Empty Home.”

The tiniest touches in “Had a Bad Dream”, will give you the shivers.

When the lower notes of the piano hit hard in “Don’t You Dare”, it will jar you from your seat and make you shudder with dread. The screechy strings should cause your skin to crawl moments later.

You can’t help but leap from your seat when the loud pick of the string vibrates three-quarters into “Only Ghosts Left.”

The quietness that follows the violins & cello in “This is My Room” leaves lots of space for your mind to imagine the darkness to come. “To Live Again” uses room ambience to set you up before the strings pounce. It’s cues like this that prove Bishara’s choice to use bowed instruments without other orchestra, was a smart choice, because you hear every musical device so much more clearly.

“Putrid Chamber” reeks of supernatural energy that floats about. The violins creep up and down during “Further Striking.”

The technique of the strings sustaining notes, then skirting about in “One of the Dead” is really chilling. This style of playing should make your body tremble with fright.

This soundtrack and the movie don’t give you many opportunities to catch your breath. Insidious Chapter 2 is designed to terrify you as much as possible, so hearing “Time To Forget” is a much needed reprieve to ease things down a bit.

“New Haunting” introduces the next chapter; I’m sure will follow in this highly effective film series.

Altogether Joseph Bishara has taken his skillful audio tapestry for Insidious Chapter 2 one step further into the void of terror. It’s not always easy listening to this score, because it delivers so much intense overpowering fear. This isn’t a negative criticism, as it is exactly what the composer set out to do.